<< What the hell kind of crappy drag race is a Taurus vs. an Accord?
As far as shift points - you want to shift a little past peak. you want to keep as much power for as much time as possible, the best shift point will vary from car to car. I shift my Mustang at 5500. >>
You think that's crappy?? How about my old '91 Corolla auto vs my friend's old '89 Chrysler Sundance with an exhaust leak!! We were neck and neck by around 40mph, and then I inched forward once I got out of 1st. In my defense, I had around 4 heavy people in the car while he had none but himself.
As to the original topic, it depends on the car. But the rule of thumb is to shift a little bit after the peak power. You can do this in an auto also, but most likely you don't need to. Also you can brake-torque which is also called flashing the torque converter during you launch. What you do is, hold the brakes, keep the car in D or 1, and and rev the engine and keep it at around 2k RPM, and soon as its time to go, slam the gas pedal and release the brakes. This way the torque converter is 'loaded up' and your engines already in the powerband during launch. Don't brake torque for too long though since its bad for your transmission.